Post from November, 2011

Well, I thought the talk by Skip Rutherford, Dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, went very well, and I found the discussion of Arkansas political history to be quite fascinating. The anecdotes on historical violence (the duels on the state house floor, for example) were particularly interesting. After the talk Skip discussed, from the inside, one of the more momentuous events in Arkansas political history, at least in terms of national security, when the Titan II missle exploded in 1979 here in Arkansas. Apparently the military didn’t know if the warhead would explode along with it. Yikes! There’s a scary thought. But it was a great talk and we had a great turnout. Thanks, again, to Dean Rutherford for that edifying presentation on the stories of Arkansas politics. D.GOOCH

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Anne McCaffery, author of the Dragonriders of Pern series, has died at the age of 85. The NY Times has the obit. While we didn’t lose Anne as we lost Robert Jordan (to a sudden illness that stole decades of his life and cut short The Wheel of Time series…at least as by Jordan), but still it cuts. Like Jordan’s WOT series, Anne McCaffery will forever be associated with the summers of my youth: at lake Norfolk, curled up under a tree or sitting on a rock next to the lake, and reading The Dragonriders of Pern. She was one of my teachers on life, and I cherish her books to this day. We will not see her like again.

Let the Dragon keen be heard throughout all of Pern and among its fans, Anne McCaffery, the true masterharper of Pern, has gone between. RIP Anne.

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It is yet again time for a regular entry on this blog, the cornucopia of links and quips on politics and related issues of interest that I have complied over the last week or so. Without further adieu:

George Will reacts to the recent appellate decision upholding Obamacare and the individual mandate as a constitutional exercise of the Commerce Clause in the wake of the USSC taking up the issue for review and wonders: is there no limit on Congress’s powers?

One of the most important theories of American politics is Downs’ median voter theorem (MVT). But how important is it to “seize” the center in American presidential elections? Thomas Sowell argues not so much.

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Donald M. Gooch is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at Stephen F. Austin State University. He received his PhD in Political Science at MU-Columbia in 2009. Dr. Gooch is an expert in American politics, public law, research methods and public policy. His research agenda includes political polarization (mass, elite, institutional – i.e. USSC), state campaign finance, civic education, and issue voting. He is the Pre-Law advisor and faculty sponsor for Moot Court at SFA.